Chapter 84 Long Tailking

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We were back at the same round table for the high council a week later. The design didn’t change an inch, and only the participant did. The usual central assholes are there with Resse; this time, Ghander was present. Lord Edelweiss and Alistar were absent as they had something to do with the epidemic and Fort Soleil. Lord Silvane and Silvainesse were present this time.

If I remember correctly, Lord Silvane was the only Lord with mines in their regions, and Lord Silvainesse was a farming town like us. The only difference was that he had more livestock production than our agriculture, And he had the only lake for producing fish in our country.

“Thank you for your swift work once again, Lord Lily,” Lord Ghander led the meeting. “You brought us some good pieces of information here. It stated that the merchant human you sent saw many troops in Verundra. A town across the Edenthal forest.”

“Yes.”

“Can this information be trusted?”

“I think he wouldn’t lie. He reported what he saw. However, please note that human has split themselves into two countries. We are currently investigating the other one.” Lily said.

“I see. Very well. I shall await the good news. Our strategy must be substantially changed if we needed to defend Edenthal forest instead of Fort Soleil.”

“Couldn’t Lord Lily hold off humans by herself? It is her own region.” The central ash holes tried to make suggestions. “And she got a spare four thousand troops there, right?”

“Those troops are ill-equipped and untrained and could not withstand if the human decided to assault it wholeheartedly,” Ghander replied. “We must send at least five hundred elven troops to Edenthal.”

“We could not afford that, Master Ghander.” Resse chimed in.

“Yes. That’s true. Those five hundred elven troops could be better used guarding fort Soleil just in case the undead decided a sneak attack while we attacked them.” Ghander spoke out.

“Lily, can you somehow divert those human soldiers to attack Fort Soleil instead?” Ghander asked. He sure asked the impossible here. Our spy was a mere single merchant. He could not overturn a decision by nobles.

“Hmm…. I don’t think so. I need to consult with Jack. I am sure they will divert their troops if we can somehow lure the undead into human territory.” Lily didn’t deny him outright. Plans were formed within her mind.

“Shiro, do you think we could spread info about the elves planning to attack the humans?” She asked me.

“Well, we could try. But the plans need to have some backbone. I wonder if they could lure the undead to humans instead.”

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“Lord Ghander, do you know how to lure the undead into human territories?” She asked.

“Hmm…. We shall research that. I believe it would be difficult. Our researchers believe that the undead primary goal is to spread corruption into all lands. Thus they would spread out to every corner equally.” Ghander read the reports.

“How to strengthen the undead army then? Does your researcher know how to strengthen undead armies?” Lily asked.

“Huh? Why would you want to strengthen our foe?”

“I wanted to strengthen the undead that attacked the human fort. If the undead took over the human fort, human has no choice but to divert their forces to stave off the assault.” Lily replied.

“That’s crazy! You heretic!” The central assholes shouted mockingly, but Lord Resse shut them up and let us finish. He now put a tight leash on his subordinate due to their previous blunder.

“That would be against our goal….” Ghander replied.

“Really? I believe our goal was to close the mana leakage, right? If we did that, the undead would slowly diminish. We could take our time attacking them.” Lily said.

“Well….” Ghander pondered. He was now seriously considering this alternative solution.

”Lord Lily, while your idea was marvelous. We are currently in a cease-fire agreement.” Lord Resse

“Why should we honor the term? And we actually did fulfill our agreement, right? We didn’t actually attack them.” Lily made her statement clear. It was dishonest, but she knew about loopholes in the treaty too.

“I shall consult with our researchers. Now, I shall give this meeting to Lord Silvane and Lord Silvainesse. They have different agendas for you.” Ghander stood up and left.

“Lord Lily, we were a food provider for dwarves before. While it is not your fault, our income dropped massively without the trade with dwarves. I must say, could you provide us a spot for the trade with the dwarves as well?” Silvainesse asked tearfully.

“Huh? Didn’t we already purchase a lot of food from another region too? I am embarrassed, but I must admit that I could not fulfill all of the dwarven demand for food.” Lily replied.

“Yeah. About that, I am sincerely grateful. Thank you for pitching in for the transportation fee too. However, my region is still in the red. Do you think you could buy my surplus?”

“Is this a business negotiation?” Lily asked.

“Huh? Oh yeah! Of course, this is a business negotiation. This is not a query. I understand that we just met recently, but as fellow lords, I wish that we could help each other at least until trade with dwarves opened again from closer sites.” Silvainesse said in a fluster. She clarified that she was asking for help and not accusing us.

“Alright. As for the trade, while I can’t possibly buy all of your surpluses, I could buy out the more expensive part, such as meat and fish. Fish always gets very expensive in Edenthal.”

“I could give you meat, but fish is a no. Other regions bought all of them. They were always sold out, and with food regulations, we could not increase the price. Either you need to apply for a fairness program and take a cut for fishes from everyone else or be satisfied with how it works for now.”

“Ughh… I will get chewed if I apply for those kinds of programs, right?” Lily winced at her recommendation.

“Yeah. I don’t recommend that either. I might do something up after the trade opened and new materials came in. We need bunches of cement or iron tools to make dams to expand our fisheries.”

“Ahh, about materials, we did get some extra iron wares and ores. Maybe I could sell them to you?”

“Ugh… please go easy on the price.” Silvainesse moaned. Iron ores, except Lord Silvane regions and dwarven trade, are not regulated, so theoretically, we could sell it as high as we wanted. However, Lily won’t do such a despicable thing.

“I will put market price just like everything else!” Lily smiled. Both of them then reach an agreement, and then the last one is Lord Silvane.

What business did he have with us?